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Topic: What computer and monitor setup do u have for Post Production? (Read 13844 times)

I currently have a hp envy 17-3d with the 1080p tn panel and it is good but was curious what reasonable desktop setups were being used most importantly monitors that do not cost $1k +. It must be windows sorry but I get all the software free. Also if you use a laptop which model?

I have an i7-2500k, 8GB RAM, a pair of Asus VH242H displays, an i1 Display Pro calibrator, and a Wacom tablet. It is fine for looking at photos but editing a 25MB .dng with lots of brushstrokes in LR4.1 can run it into the ground.

A faster processor and 12 or 16GB of RAM would be a better idea, as would one good monitor; The panels I have are remarkably inconsistent for brightness and color temperature.

The calibrator and the tablet are swell once you figure them out, applying adjustment brushes is much easier with the tablet.

The only other thing I'd change on this setup would be a faster drive array. I have for storing photos a RAID5 array of older mechanical drives on a proper 3Ware card but a bundle of SSDs would sure give it a kick in the pants. Win7 runs on its own Velociraptor, which is enough.

I have an i7-2500k, 8GB RAM, a pair of Asus VH242H displays, an i1 Display Pro calibrator, and a Wacom tablet. It is fine for looking at photos but editing a 25MB .dng with lots of brushstrokes in LR4.1 can run it into the ground.

A faster processor and 12 or 16GB of RAM would be a better idea, as would one good monitor; The panels I have are remarkably inconsistent for brightness and color temperature.

The calibrator and the tablet are swell once you figure them out, applying adjustment brushes is much easier with the tablet.

The only other thing I'd change on this setup would be a faster drive array. I have for storing photos a RAID5 array of older mechanical drives on a proper 3Ware card but a bundle of SSDs would sure give it a kick in the pants. Win7 runs on its own Velociraptor, which is enough.

Jim

Thanks,

I was thinking of I7 3770k, 16GB 1600mhz ram, 240GB Samsung 830 SSD, Nvidia gtx550 and 23" HP IPS Monitor of course calibrated. My concern is the monitor quality. As far as true storage. I have a full Domain Controller running a dedicated Raid card. So storage is really not an issue. With the cost of SSD's going down and rotational drives so high I cannot see an os drive being anything other than that. Just looking for a quality monitor suggestion with accurate colors under $500. Otherwise the above setup would surely handle 5d3 Raw workflows thru PS and LR4. Also render HD Video. I am not a pro but want to make my edits accurate in case I do go that route.

I have an eight-core i7 something something running Folding@Home downstairs; Being that I now need to nuke and pave my i5 box (the one mislabeled above) I think I'll try LR4 on it and see how it does. All I know is that making an input in LR4 and having to wait for it to catch up is frustrating but understandable.

I did a lot of monitor research before I got an external monitor (I have a MacBook pro 13" with 16gb RAM) and from what I found almost all 23" IPS monitors (under $400) use basically the same pannel from LG. There are slight differences in antiglare or inputs but they are almost all 6-bit e-IPS monitors made by LG.

I got one and it is fine, there is some light bleeding in one of the corner that I can deal with but I wish mine was 8-bit rather than 6-bit. In gradients I can see dithering that bugs me. The true 8-bit monitors aren't cheap and were way out of my price range.

Im happy with what I got and I have it on a wall mount that can rotate to portrait and the monitor still looks good in that orientation. I hope this helps as I too am not a pro